Sweeper.



F. L. COLLIS.

SWEEPER.

v I APPLICATION FILED DEC. 13, I916- ,263,379,, Patented Apr. 23, 1918;

2 SHEETSS.HEET I.

gwwwto'c fiediee' mm FRED LEE COLLIS, OF IOWA FALLS, IOWA.

SWEEPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 23, 1918.

Application filed December 1 3, 1916. Serial No. 136,760.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED LEE CoLLIs, a citizen of the United. States, residing at Iowa Falls, in the county of Hardin and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sweepers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to sweepers, and more particularly to sweepers'of that class used for sweeping streets and similar purposes.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide a sweeper of simple construction and operation which is so constructed as to gather the dirt from the street surface and elevate the same discharging it in to a suitable receiving casing. A further object is to provide a sweeper having elevating means so constructed as to be adjustable longitudinally, this elevating means provided with a plurality of brushes or similar elements for engaging the material and forcing the same up an inclined recoiving trough which discharges into the receiving casing. A still further object is to provide an elevating or conveying member which is rockably mounted so as to be longitudinally adjustable whereby the elevating brushes or other elements may be made to engage the street surface in advance of the lower edge of the trough so as to remove the loose dirt from the street sur face preliminary to the engagement of the edge of the trough with the dirt which is packed or adheres to the street surface, thus permitting the cutting or loosening edge of the trough to operate to the best advantage. A still further object is to provide a sweeper of the character stated in which the material gathered is elevated by means of a plurality of spaced brushes or similar elements, thus eliminating all possibility of the sweeping element proper becoming either partially or completely inoperative due to hair, strings, and similar trash becoming entangled therewith such as occurs in sweepers in which a single rotary brush is utilized. Further objects will appear from the detailed description.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view of a sweeper constructed in accordance with my inven tion.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a detail of the means for adjusting the conveyer frame vertically,

Fig. 4 is a detail of the clutch control fork.

The inclined trough 1 is provided, at each side, with a side piece 2 which is bent to provide a horizontal arm 8 and an upwardly inclined handle bar 4. A sheet metal bottom 5 is secured between the side pieces 2, by means of strips or cleats 6 passed beneath the same and secured to the side pieces. A heavy cutting plate 7 is detachably secured to the lower edge of bottom 5 of the trough, and is beveled to provide a cutting edge 8. The cutting blade 7 is provided, at each end, with a laterally and forwardly directed gathering member 9. These two members form an inwardly converging passage or opening leading to' the trough 1 and serve to direct material from each side of the sweeper inward into the path of the lower edge of the trough.

The horizontal arms ,3, and the upper po-r- I tion of trough 1, provide a supporting frame for a trash receiving casing 10 secured thereto.v The outer side of this casing is hingedly mounted at its upper edge to form a door 11 whereby the material which has been collected in the casing may be quickly and easily discharged or removed. At each end of casing 10, adjacent the door 11, a forwardly and upwardly arching arm 12 is secured at its lower end to the horizontal arm 3. These two arms 12 form supporting means for a rounded sheet metal hood 13 secured thereto. This hood serves to confine all dust and dirt within the receptacle 10, thus protecting the operator of the machine. A ground wheel 14 is" ing through a bearing block 19 which is slidably mounted in a slot 20 of a sup porting arm 21 which is .pivotally secured at its lower end to the side bar 2 of the trough 1, as at 22. The shaft 17 also'ex tends through the upper end of an inclined adjusting brace 23. This brace is provided,

adjacent its inner end, with a plurality of spaced apertures 2d. These apertures are adapted to receive a securing pin 25 inserted therethrough and through an aperture in the side piece 2 of trough 1 with which anyone of the apertures 2d may be brought into register. A shaft 26 is rotatably mounted in the side bars 18 of the conveyer frame adjacent the upper ends thereof. This shaft is pivotally connected to the side beams 2 of the conveyor by means of supporting arms 27 similar to arms 21. The ends of shaft 26 project through the upper ends of inclined adjusting braces 28 which are provided with the spaced apertures 29 adapted to receive a securing pin 30 for securing the braces to the side bars of the trough in the same manner as braces 23 are secured. The two braces or arms 21 and 27 provide a rockable mounting for the conveyor, and the inclined braces 23 and 28 constitute means whereby the conveyer may be secured in adjustment. By this means, the conveyer 16 may be adjusted longitudinally so as to project be yond the lower edge of the inclined trough l. as desired.

A sprocket wheel 31 is secured on shaft 17 adjacent each end thereof. These sprockets are in alinement with sprocket wheels 32 secured on shaft 26. Two chains 33 are passed about the sprockets 31 and These chains are connected by a series of equally spaced elevator brushes 3stsecured thereto. Also, intermediate the brushes 3%, heavy sheet metal gathering plates 35 are mounted on supporting blocks 36 wl'ch are secured to the chains. The chains 33 and brushes 3d and plates 35 carried thereby constitute an endless conveyer the lower run of which is operative within the trough 1.

A sprocket wheel 37 is loosely mounted on the shaft 26. This sprocket provided with a clutch member 38 adapted to cooperate with the clutch member 39 which is secured on the shaft 26. A disk 4:0 is secured on the outer end of the shaft and an expansion coil spring l-l is confined between. this disk and sprocket wheel 37. This expansion spring tends to normally hold the clutch member 38 in operative engagement with clutch member 39. The sprocket wheel 37 is connected by a chain L2 to a ring gear 4:3 which is secured on the ground wheel 14. By this means, with the clutch members 38 and 39 in engagement, as the sweeper is pushed forward rotation will be imparted to shaft 26 from the ground wheel lat, thus operating the conveyer 16 so as to cause the brushes 34- and plates 35 to travel upward and rearward in the trough 1. The brushes and plates will engage material which is directed into the trough during its forward. travel, by means of-the-plate {7 and laterally extending-gathering members 9, so as to elevate this material and discharge it into the receiving casing 10 from the upper end of the trough. The plates are not deemed essential under ordinary conditions, but are well adapted for elevating unusual or heavy materials such heavy mud, stones, and similar objects or materials which would tend to cause injury to the brushes 3%.

A transversely extending hand rod or shaft 4% is loosely mounted in the upper ends of the handle bars i. This shaft provides a convenient hand grip and is free to be rocked so as to operate the clutch control means. A rectangular arm 45 is securedon the shaft at adjacent one end thereof. The forward end of this arm is pivotally secured to the end of a rod 426 which is slidable through a supporting guide strap 47 secured to, and depending from, the hood 13. Rod 41-6 is provided, at its forward end, with a fork having wedge shaped arms or prongs 48. This fork is adapted to engage between the clutch members 37 and 38, when forced V q forward, so as to engage the sprocket wheel 37 and the annular collar 39 of clutch member 39. When forced. into t iis position, the fork acts as a wedge head so as to forceclutch member 38 away from clutch member 39 thus disconnecting these members and permitting the sprocket wheel 37 to idle on shaft 26. This forward movement of the wedge head or fork' lS is accomplishedby rocking the shaft 44: downward and rearward, thus imparting forward movement to rod d6 through arm 45. By rocking the shaft 14 in the reverse direction, the head l8 will be movedinto inoperative position permitting the clutch to operate so as to cause rotation of shaft 26 and operation of the conveyer l6.

An adjusting screw d9 is threaded through the upper end of each of the supporting arms 21 for the conveyer frame side bars 18. The lower end of this screw is secured by loose nut connections to the bear-in g block 19. An adjusting screw 50 is also provided at the upper end of each of the conveyer frame side bars, being threaded through each of the arms27 and similarly connected to the bearing blocks which support the shaft 26. By means of these screws 49 and 50, the shafts 17 and 26 may be adjusted vertically thus insuring proper positioning of the members 3d and 35 relativeto the bottom of trough 1 when the conveyor is adjusted. Also, these adjusting screws provide means whereby wear of the brushes and plates may be accommodated. l

The laterally extending gathering memhers 9 of the blade 7 extend to each side of the trough so as to project somewhat beyond the ground wheels. By this means I insure that all material which collects in.

members 9 engaging this material and serving to direct it inward into the path of the trough 1. As will be noted more particularly from Fig. 1 of the drawings, the laterally extending gathering members 9 are each tapered and turned back at its forward end, as at 9% This provides a rounded tapering corner or terminal member, thus avoiding all sharp corners or edges such as would tend to catch in any roughnesses in the curb-stone or pavement so as to interfere with the operation of the machine.

As will be noted from Fig. 2 of the drawings, the axle 10 about which the sweeper may be tilted is positioned slightly in back of the center of gravity of the machine so that the tendency is for the gathering trough and conveyer to tilt downward and forward thus bringing the plate 7 and gathering wings 9 into contact with the street surface. In this manner the plate 7 and wings act as a supporting member or runner for the trough, the slight downward pressure exerted by the weight of the trough serving to hold these elements in intimate contact with the surface to be cleaned. When it is desired to increase this pressure, this may be easily accomplished by exerting slight upward pull on the hand rod 14. By supporting the gathereing conveyer and trough on the plate 7 and wings 9 I insure that these members will be continuously abraded or ground so as to provide'a very sharp cutting edge which will readily pass beneath all dirt to be gathered so as to loosen and remove the same.

As will be noted more clearly from Fig. 2 of the drawings, the inclined trough 1 is supported by the receiving casing 10 for which the side bars 2 of the trough form a frame, so that the trough may be easily rocked about the common axis of the ground wheels 14 and 15 thus bringing the cutting plate or blade 7 into close contact with the street surface. In addition, as above pointed out, the conveyer may be readily rocked forward so as to cause the brushes 34C and plate 35 to engage all loose material in' front of the cutting plate 7 thus removing this material previous to the engagement of the cutting plate with any material which may tend to adhere to the street surface. This eliminates all danger of interference with the proper operation of the cutting plate by loose material, thus permitting it to operate to the very best advantage and greatly facilitating the loosening of material which tendsto adhere to the surface to be swept or cleaned.

There may be slight changes made in the construction and arrangement of the various parts of my invention without departing from the field and scope of the same, and I intend to include all such changes, as fall within the scope of the appended claim, in this application in which a preferred form only of my invention is disclosed.

That I claim is A cutting knife for gathering troughs having integral laterally extending gathering members, each of said members being tapered outwardly, and bent outward and backward.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of a witness.

FRED LEE COLLIS. Witness:

M. E. JoNEs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

